Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Regulation (EC) No 1225/2009 on protection against dumped imports from countries not members of the European Community

On 2 February 2012, the European Court of Justice in case C-249/10 P - Brosmann and others v. Council ('Brosmann') annulled Council Regulation (EC) No 1472/2006 of 5 October 2006 imposing a definitive anti-dumping duty and collecting definitely the provisional duty imposed on imports of certain footwear with uppers of leather originating in the People’s Republic of China and Vietnam in so far as it relates to the applicants. In its judgement, the Court of Justice ruled that the sampling technique laid down in Article 17 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1225/2009 may not be applied for the purposes of the determination of claims of individual market economy treatment made under Article 2(7)(c).

The Court found that under Article 2(7)(c) the cooperating producers, which are not part of the sample, are entitled to have their claim of market economy treatment examined, regardless of whether an individual dumping margin was to be calculated for those companies outside the sample. The Court also pointed out that the determination under Article 2(7)(c) is to be made within three months after the initiation of the investigation.

The ruling by the Court of Justice on the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 1225/2009 would require that the Commission examine all applications for market economy treatment filed by cooperating producers who are not part of the sample, irrespective of the number of producers. However, such a practice would impose a disproportionate administrative burden on the investigating authorities of the Union. Therefore, it is appropriate to amend Regulation (EC) No 1225/2009, in particular with regard to the time limit of three months for the Commission to decide on the applications for market economy treatment.

• Primary Source

EUR-Lex: COM(2012)270: Follow the progress of this document through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2012:270:FIN

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